March 25, 2016
Right to Die Advocates to Share Ideas at Public Meeting
HIGH profile voluntary euthanasia advocates Philip Nitschke and Tom Curran will hold a free public meeting at Federation University on April 4.
Mr Curran and his wife, multiple sclerosis sufferer Marie Fleming, became the public face of Right to Die Ireland after Marie argued she had a Constitutional right to an assisted suicide as she would become too disabled to act alone. Ireland’s supreme and high courts disagreed.
Since Marie’s death in December 2013, Mr Curran has worked with legislators in Dublin to draft the nation’s first assisted suicide Bill.
Mr Curran has also become a passionate advocate for legalising medical marijuana. He said his wife’s quality of life was made more bearable in her last days knowing she had a bottle of the euthanasia drug Nembutal and her daily dose of marijuana that eased her nerve pain and minimised her uncontrollable spasms.
Dr Nitschke came to public attention 20 years ago when he assisted four patients to die under Northern Territory law that lasted nine months before it was overturned by the federal government.
The Fed Uni meet is in lecture theatre B901 from 7.30pm and is one of five stops on a voluntary euthanasia information tour.